Volkswagen Beetle Claims X Games Gold

Scott Speed in Shark Week entry bumps and grinds to top of RallyCar podium in GRC non-points invitational

Sixteen competitors got the invitation to compete in the 2015 X Games (XG) RallyCar event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, but in the end only ex-F1 hot-shoe Scott Speed took the gold medal, and did it in dramatic fashion. Initially running mid-pack in his 550-horsepower Shark Week Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Beetle GRC in the final, Speed came back to pass three cars and take the win.

The win gave Speed his second summer X Games gold in as many years. He also sustains his run of podium finishes this season in rallycross, finishing second a week earlier at the first round of the 2015 Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Tanner Foust, driver of the Rockstar Energy Drink Beetle GRC, qualified second behind Speed and was fastest in Saturday morning practice. Foust advanced to the final after winning the Last Chance Qualifier, but was dealt a blow when at the start of the final he was bumped in traffic and had to contend with poor visibility and on track debris, ultimately finishing fifth place overall.

In all the press releases for the so-called 2015 “RallyCar” event – which is just XG speak for rallycross – it was made clear nothing was on the line in the comp. Which is to say unlike previous years, where the GRC actually counted the round towards its title chase, this time it was just an exhibition, euphemistically dubbed an “invitational.”